Women's Golf

White Eighth After First Round of Rio Verde Invitational

Mar 05, 2011

RIO VERDE, Ariz. - Ryann
White

shot a two-over-par 74 to lead the Texas A&M - Corpus
Christi golf team to ninth place after the opening round of the Rio
Verde Invitational on Friday. White is in a tie for eighth place,
while Nikki
Dunn (78) sits 19th and Katie
Belser (79) is 29th after one round.

The Islanders are tied with Akron for ninth in the strong
17-team field, which features five ranked teams. Texas A&M -
Corpus Christi posted a plus-28 316 for the opening 18 holes. Cristina
Reynoso was the last scorer for the Islanders at plus-13, while
Cecilia
Jeon had a plus-16 in the opening round.

Eastern Michigan leads the way with an impressive plus-6 after
the opening 18, with Michigan sitting second at plus-12. Penn State
is third after an opening round 306, while the Islanders are just
seven shots behind fourth-place Northern Arizona (309).

White, who began the shotgun start on the fourth hole, stayed
even through the first 11 holes before finally finishing her par
streak on 15 with a bogey. After a second bogey on 16, she rallied
to par 17 and 18, then finished with three more straight pars to
finish at plus-2. It is the second weekend in a row that she has
led the team in the opening round.

Dunn had a busy first four holes, earning par on her opening
fifth hole, then dropping a birdie two on the par-3 sixth. After
bogeying three of the next four, the FIU transfer earned par on the
next seven before a double on 18 pushed her to four over. She
rebounded with pars on both 1 and 3, but bogeys on 2 and 4 sent her
into the clubhouse with a plus-6 78.

Starting her round on 4, Belser had trouble with the first two
par-3s on the front nine, bogeying each of them. But on the back,
she pulled back to plus-1 by notching a birdie on the par-4 11th.
Doubles on 14 and 18 pushed her to plus-6 through 15 holes, and she
finished by notching pars on 1 and 3 to sandwich a bogey on 2,
finishing her opening round at plus-7.

Reynoso and Jeon both struggled on the back nine, but both
rebounded with a solid performance over their last several holes.
Reynoso parred two and three after a bogey on one, then entered the
books with an 85 after pars on four and five. Jeon had bogey on two
and four, but pars on one and three to finish with an 88.

The Islanders will tee off round two on Saturday morning with an
8 a.m. MT (9 a.m. CT) shotgun start on the White Wing Course. Round
three will matriculate on Sunday at 9 a.m.